11.30.2005

UPDATE 12.01.05: Got a call from Brenda (my sister-in-law) to let us know that everyone is okay. The power is out all over and the phone lines are down... she was able to call because the phone out by the feedlot is working. She wasn't sure why that was the only phone working, but when she realized it had a dial tone, she thought we'd want to know what was going on. Jim (my little brother) and his family are staying at Mom & Dad's place (because they have a generator). Tony (my older brother), Brenda and the kids don't have power at their place, but they are getting by okay. Just trying to stay out of the wind/cold as much as possible and stay warm. Whew. I feel better... don't you?! Thanks for all the good thoughts yesterday.

Petersens, are you out there?OK... I know this is futile, but I have to post about it. While I'm not panicked or anything, I am feeling a little unnerved. I've been trying to reach my family in Nebraska for the past two days. The phones are ringing but no one is picking up. I can only guess that the blizzards that went through the area on Monday have knocked down phone lines. AND, since they live out in the middle of nowhere, literally, that they are just waiting the situation out. It is just a really weird feeling to be here, 1000 miles away, with no way to get ahold of them.

So... please send good thoughts Nebraska way. AND, if you read this and you know something, click that little envelope at the bottom of this post to send me an e-mail about it. (Thanks!)

This kind of thing happens all the time up in Nebraska and KELOLAND... so I'm sure everyone is alright.

As I type this post, I'm thinking about what we used to do when we got snowed in.

Always thinking ahead.Living on the farm, we were always prepared for stuff like this. There isn't a grocery store up the street or a gas station down the road... so you plan ahead... always. There was always plenty of canned stuff from Mom's garden in the cave house, a stocked fridge & pantry, and plenty of meat in the chest freezers downstairs. We had two freezers... one was beef and the other was pork, veggies and other things like homemade bread and egg noodles that we always made in bulk.. oh yeah... and stuff Dad had bought from the Schwans man. (yummy... we loved it when the Dad was home when the Schwans truck came... he has a HUGE sweet tooth and bought sherbet push-ups, ice cream, fudge bars, popsicles, etc. And, what I didn't know until I didn't have it anymore is that Schwans ROCKS, too. They have the best ice cream I've ever tasted... just a little bit better than Blue Bell.)

The Wood Stove.There was a wood burning stove in the basement to keep us warm when the power went out. It smelled so good and radiated A LOT of heat. My Dad and brothers would chop wood throughout the summer and fall to make sure we had enough wood to get us through the winter.

Kerosene LampsWhen ice storms and blizzards took our lights, we'd get out the kerosene lamps and play board games at night. Mom would make some real buttered popcorn with the "Whirly pop" stove popper. It was so warm and cozy and it made me feel very close to my family. (I have one of those lamps in my house here in Nashville... maybe I'll get it out tonight and pretend I'm home hanging out in the snow. Wanna come over to play Monopoly by lamp with me?!)

Snow MountainsBefore Dad could feed the cattle in the morning, he had to use the tractor with the loader bucket to push the snow up into big piles all over our farm. Many winters, those piles reached half way up the light posts. The one Dad made in the middle of the yard in front of the house was always the biggest (I'm sure he did this partly because it was easy and partly because he knew we'd have fun playing on it.) My brothers and I would bundle up in our ugly green farm coveralls, zippered sweatshirts, chopper gloves, overboots, stocking hats and scarves. (And, long johns and two pairs of socks... sometimes three!) We'd play "king of the mountain" on our giant snow piles... I lost a lot. HA. We'd also make slides and dig tunnels. Believe it or not, we never really noticed how cold it was until we had icicles hanging on our scarves and our nose started freezing shut when we took a deep breath... or until Mom was yelling to us that it was time to come in and warm up.

Wet clothes & deer jerky.When we did finally go inside, we'd take off all of our wet clothes and hang them in front of the stove from hooks in the basement rafters. I can remember putting pieces of deer jerky from the chest freezer on the wood stove to thaw while we shed our winter duds. By the time we were all changed, the jerky was thawed and so yummy and chewy.

Toboggans & the Hay MeadowOnce the maintainer (snow plow) had gone by and cleared the road, sometimes we'd pile into the back of the pick-up with our sleds and toboggans(a giant sled that holds at least six people... not a stocking cap!) to go sledding in our hay meadow. Because we mowed it for wild hay in the summer we always kept the seedling trees from growing on the hillsides. That meant the hay meadow had fewer trees than the hills than in our pasture... PLUS, the hills were really steep and long so we could get going really fast. It was the PERFECT sledding scenario... no trees, no cars and sssspppeeeeed.

Snowball fights and forts.As the snow storms came and went, the cold temperature did not. Consequently, nothing melted and the drifts would pile higher and higher in the non-road / path areas. We would make big snow bricks and build forts in the shelter belt (tree lines planted around farms to protect them from the wind) and in the yard. Then, behind these forts we would create stockpiles of snowballs and have incredible snow wars.

Trying not to sink in.Because the drifts would build on themselves in each storm, they'd develop thick crusts on the top if the weather warmed up to 33 and the snow melted a little. When we would walk to the school bus stop at the top of our hill, it was a challenge to see how far and carefully we could walk so as not to fall through the snow. When we did fall through, depending on the size of the drift, we might even end up hip-high in snow.

Chores sucked.There were also things that weren't so fun about tons of ice and snow... like scooping cattle bunks so we could feed the cattle... or chopping 6 inches of ice out of the tanks so the cattle could drink... or using a feed scoop to clear away big drifts by the house and in front of the chicken coop. (Have I ever told you that we had 400 chickens, too?!) The chickens were pretty much my deal growing up... and let me tell you, hauling five gallon buckets of water and feed through three feet of snow is no picnic.

Believe it or not...The funny thing is, that even these things seem good to me now. I miss the farm and being completely independent. I miss physically working hard and being tired from it at night. I miss snow and ice... and everything that goes with it.

If you can swing the cover, I highly recommend you make it happen. Seeing the show live will be an experience to last a lifetime.

AND... I recommend that you get tickets ahead of time. Got my tickets reserved online at 3rd's site over the weekend.

"Why?" you ask.

Well, because, not only is Delbert the main attraction, but Jeffrey Steele is also the opening act. Jeff's AMAZING... a songwriter with so many hits that people think they are listening to a cover band when they hear him play his own stuff. He's also got several co-writes on the new Delbert album.

Which means... it is going to be packed. Between Jeffrey's fans and Delbert's fans... people will be lined up around the block and I think 3rd only holds like 275 people. So... you'll also want to get there as soon as possible to make sure you get a seat.

Well... yesterday, just before John and I started to get things going for our little Thanksgiving feast, I was doing a little kitchen cleaning. I had filled one of the sinks with water, but when I went to drain it, the water wouldn't go down. In fact, it was oozing into the other sink. So, I turned on the disposal to see if I could get it to go down.

No luck.

By this time, John and I were both trying to figure out the next step. We put some drain clog stuff down the non-disposal side of the sink. Still no luck. As we were waiting for the kitchen sinks to drain, John went into our master bathroom... where both of those sinks were backed up with junk from the kitchen sink.

Uh oh.

We decided to try to unclog those as well (which I wouldn't do again) so, John drove off to get more drain cleaner. When he returned, we had enough to put in both kitchen sinks, both bathroom sinks and the tub (for good measure). Time to see what would happen in the next 60 minutes.

Tick tock.

As we waited to see if the nasty chemicals worked (they didn't), I grabbed our handy dandy homeowner maintenance book. There I got a quick plumbing 101 and discovered that we were probably looking at a main drain clog. In the book said it was much cheaper and easy to fix yourself . Just needed to rent the right equipment and be ready to clean up the mess. If it were a Saturday and we weren't waiting for company to come over, maybe. But, Thankgsiving Day?

I don't think so.

Instead of taking a chance with our own plumbing incompetence, we decided to throw in the towel... so to speak.

Hello yellow pages.

Wow. I had no idea there were so many plumbing services in Nashville. And, all of them were clamoring for the emergency business. Ultimately, I went with Rotorooter because I had a good experience using them when we were still in Sioux Falls. And, because their ad said that emergency was their specialty... and they made it clear that they were always available, 24 / 7 plus holidays.

So, I called.

It was about 9:30 by the time we dialed the phone. Within 10 minutes an appointment was scheduled. A Rotorooter technician would be there between 10 and Noon.

More waiting.

With the extra time on our hands, I called Karleen and let her know we were experiencing technical difficulties and asked if she was okay moving the turkey eating time to mid-afternoon. She was.

Good news.

JTC and I decided to make the most of the waiting game by cleaning. Something we never seem to do enough of around here... it felt good.

No time wasted.

The phone at around 10:35... it was Rotorooter dispatch telling us their man was on the way.

Amazing.

At about 11 a.m. he arrived and went to town. I followed him around like a curious little kid. It was cool to see how everything comes together. He was so nice and I was very thankful that he came so quickly to help us on the holiday. I know... he was on call... but so what?

It still sucked.

But he didn't complain and was soooo helpful. Patiently, he answered all my, "What's that?" "Is it working?" "What are you looking for when you do that?" "Do you want some coffee?" Where are you from?"

Blah blah blah.

When he actually used the "rotorooter" it went 35 feet into our pipes. The whole fix took less than an hour. Wow.

Mr. Rotorooter saved the day!

Eventhough the clog cost us about three ours of turkey grilling time and the dinner was delayed, it all worked out pretty well. And, it wasn't that expensive... at least it wasn't as expensive as I expected it to be.

Whew.

By 4 p.m., John and I were back on track... showered and everything! Karleen came for dinner. (She even brought crackers and a cheese ball... and all the fixin's to make fruit smoothies. Mmmmm yum.) Later, Steve C and Cat came over to join the three of us for pumpkin pie and coffee.

11.22.2005

As I watch the AMA's, I can't help noticing that Tim McGraws cheeks look really puffy. He's grown out his beard to cover, but it's not quite working. They actually look swelled up, you know that shiny look a person's flesh gets when it is filled with fluid. And his eyes seem a little tired, too.

I wanted to be a big cat or something cool like that... not an OTTER?! Oh well, the other options are kinda lame, too... badger, horse, bear, wolfe, puma and crow. Not very exciting.

And, what the heck do you feed an otter? I hope they like salty, chippy treats... or I'm screwed.

UPDATE 8:40 p.m.:JTC is a badger... OMG... we just laughed hysterically when this result showed up. It took him 15 minutes to take the quiz and he was crabbin' at the options the entire time. HA. What a freekin' hoot! However, most of you who read this will not agree with the badger option... so I think it is safe to say this "quizilla" is pretty subjective at best. Oh well... it sure is fun.What Is Your Animal Personality?brought to you by Quizilla

As you all know if you read this blog, Jeffrey Steele is one of my favorite artists / songwriters in Nashville... in the country for that matter. On top of that, I'm also beginning to get to know him, slowly but surely, on a more personal level which only makes me respect him more. He's good people.

Anyway, over the past year, he's busted my chops at least three times because I don't just jump up and sing with him when the urge strikes. Last time this happened, I told him that as a performer, I'm trying to respect his stage and that it just feels weird to get up there without being asked ahead of time. He said he understood that but basically said if you feel it, you got to do it... and that you got to make your own opportunities. He didn't know Bekka Bramlett the first time she jumped up and sang with him... and he loved it. After that, I felt like he thought I was just a chickenshit and copping out.

Well, you know, and I know, that is NOT the case. But I couldn't have one of my mentors thinking I was just making excuses now could I?!

So, Saturday night, I made a secret pact with myself. I told myself that if Jeff played "Dance" I would go for it. By the time the JS show began at 10, I was already feeling a little gross and was a little hoarse from trying to talk over the music and the smoke. A couple hours passed, he hadn't played the song and I started giving myself a little pep talk in my head, "Well, God is probably trying to help me out so that I can bring it with a fully healthy voice next time. If it is meant to be, it is meant to be. If not, that's okay, too. blah blah blah..."

I actually felt a little relieved.

Until, toward the end of the show, a woman came up to our table, borrowed a pen and a piece of paper, and then wrote the word "Dance" in big black letters across the entire sheet. Uh oh. This was it. Would he play her request?

Yep.

As soon as she laid it on the stage, he read it and started the song.

"What the hell!" I thought, "Go for it, BB." So, I stood, walked over to Steve C's side of the stage and asked Steve if I could use his mic. (BTW: Steve has also encouraged to get me to jump in and sing... so he was more than happy to oblige.)

When I first started singing, my mic was muted... then Mikey (sound man) saw what was happening and punched me in. Soon, Jeff looked over and just gave me a HUGE smile. Somehow, by the grace of God, I just forced it out over the hoarseness. AND, I think it came off alright. We had a blast singing together and hopefully it didn't come off weird.

The song ended. Jeff gave me a "high five" and a big hug. And, as I walked off the stage he said to the audience, "Now that girl can sing..." Or something like that (I didn't actually hear him say it... that is what I was told he said. I was too busy trying to figure out how to get through the crowd to notice. Funny.

It was an amazing night. So amazing that I think between going out and traveling to DC, I've sent myself into a little sickness relapse. Of course, I couldn't talk at all on Sunday morning when I woke up... but it was worth it.

11.17.2005

Eric and I flew to DC today for work. As usual, the Southwest flight was a pretty full flight. But, as most of you already know, I've been fighting the crud for more than a week now so we thought most people (after hearing me hack and cough) would steer clear of sitting in the middle seat between us. Sounds reasonable...right? And, we thought we had actually dodged a bullet... until a woman named Betty spotted our seat. Coughing didn't deter her... "Is this seat taken?"

She was a pretty African American woman... full of life. As she sat down to buckle her seat belt she looked at Eric, then me, and said, "I get sick when I fly... I need one of those bags."

Needless to say, I didn't waste anytime helping her find one since we would soon take off. As I handed her the barf bag from my seat pouch, I looked over at Eric. It was like I was looking in a mirror... he was giving me the same "oh shit" look I was giving him. But what could we do but laugh and hope that she didn't get sick.

After she had her barf bag and seat belt fastened, she saw that I was reading through the lyrics of a song LaLa and I are working on. "Wow. That is so cool... you write songs?!"

"Yeah," I replied.

"I write songs, too," she said and as she confidently snapped her finger she added, "I can write a song like that. They just come to me."

"Really?!" I said. "Do you live in Nashville?"

"Oh no!" Betty replied.

"Well, then you should move to Nashville. You know it is the songwriting capitol of the world. It's a great town."

Betty wrinkled her nose and said, "No... I don't think so. What kind of music to you write? Country?"

"Well, yes and no. I grew up listening to country, but my influences are more soul / old R&B... so you hear a lot of that in there."

This hit a good nerve with Betty, "Oh... Old R&B and soul. Yes... yesssss. Who do you like?"

Anyone who knows me, knows that at that point I was about to start spewing tons of names like Al Green, Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, Bill Withers, Oleta Adams, Eva Cassidy, etc and so forth. The only name I got out of my mouth was "Al Green" and she begin to wail very loud.

Seriously.I'm not exaggerating... not even a little.

I was stunned and I'm sure my eyes got really big... I couldn't tell if she was crying or laughing or both. I became really concerned that something was wrong. But, as I looked around to see the quizzical looks of those around us I realized that she was just totally overwhelmed at the thought of "Al Greene". It was surreal... like I was in a living SNL skit.

"I love Al Green. I love Al Green. He's so incredible...**inaudible**... oh my... girl he is so good. Where did he go? He is so good..." all the while she is raising her hands, shaking my arm and squealing. It was wild. All I could do is laugh and enjoy her totally uninhibited joy.

Soon after, the plane began to taxi for take off. Betty didn't notice at first... but as the wheels lifted off the ground, Betty began to moan. She grabbed the bag and made some gagging sounds... Eric and I gave each other the "oh shit" look again... but soon realized that she was okay. As it turns out, she just wasn't a conditioned traveler and I think she may have been confusing the feeling of taking off with the feeling of getting sick. And, by her own account later in the flight, she told me she liked attention. I think moaning and breathing heavily into a white paper bag was a good way to get a little of that, too.

Once we reached cruising altitude, the drama subsided. We had a little moment of silence and I thought maybe I'd get to work a little during the rest of the flight.

Well, that thought didn't last long.

By the time the plane landed two hours later, I knew everything about every celebrity in the "People" magazine Betty was reading. I knew that she is a Leo. I knew that she had three daughters, 8, 10 and 12. I knew that she had finished her cosmotology degree and was in the process of taking her boards. We also talked about why she'd been visiting Nashville... which turned out to be a trip in itself.

I asked her if she was married. For the first time during the flight... she looked at me with withholding eyes. Betty said, "Yes... but girl you won't believe the story."

Knowing this would be good, I said, "Hit me. I can handle it."

She gave me a sideways glance... like she was sizing me up to see if I could really handle what she was about to tell me.

"Are you impulsive?" she asked.

"I can be," I said.

Apparently this satisfied her and she started telling me about her Nashville trip.

Betty had come to Nashvegas to see her boyfriend of six years who'd just gotten a job here. He was staying in a hotel while he looked for a place and she was visiting to see if she wanted to move to Nashville. From the sounds of it, their relationship had been pretty rocky and she wasn't sure she wanted to make such a big move with her kids... especially when her daughters didn't really like the guy.

By her own account, the first night with her long-time beau was wonderful. Then, apparently, her boyfriend "went psycho" and locked her out of the room. I couldn't quite follow what transpired, but because she didn't have a place to stay, it sounds like some people there stepped in and helped her out. In the process she met a nice man... this was last Tuesday (11/8).

I couldn't quite follow all that happened from Tuesday to Saturday... but what ever it was... Betty married the man she met on Saturday. She never told me his name, but I found out that he had two daughters and had never been married before.

Betty was beside herself as she described the scene... which is why I had a hard time understanding everything she said. The gist of it all was that this man was a great person but she has no idea what she was thinking. While she says it seemed like a good idea at the time... as Betty told me her story, she had doubt in her eyes. Somehow, she also convinced her three daughters over the phone that the guy was cool and they gave her their blessing before she took the plunge... but I'm not sure how that went down either. Her Dad has already suggested she get it annulled... but for now she was thinking she'd see what happens. Betty doesn't want to move to Nashville, but somehow the two of them never discussed any of those practical matters before the nuptials on Saturday.

Amazing.

Anyway... that's where the story ends for me. I have no idea what she's going to do but Betty's stories and antics throughout the flight proved to make this trip to DC one of the most interesting ever.

What a character.Thanks, Betty!And... good luck.

Got any good "character" stories of your own you'd like to share?Hit me.I can handle it.**wink**

On my way to DC today for work... I'll be there through tomorrow night. In all actuality, I may post something relevant tonight if I have wireless in my hotel. Otherwise, you may not hear from me again until Saturday.

PS: On the third day of my Z-Pack and am feeling a little better. **fingers crossed** I hope traveling doesn't delay that progress!

11.15.2005

OK... I'm finally sick of being sick. Since tomorrow will mark one week since I started feeling icky, I decided I'm going to the doctor TODAY.

This ain't allergies, folks.**cough**hack**choke**she sighs as she sanitizes her hands... again**

Tried to go to the walk-in clinic just around the corner from work, but the doctor had been called away to an emergency. So, I made an appointment to go back at 2:30 today.

Wish me luck... I want some kick ass drugs to kick this out of my big ass!

Hey... I typed ass... twice. Oooops. **wink** Hee hee.

I'm sure the people I work with and John will be happy to know that the "phlegm fest" may be coming to an end... SOON.

UPDATE:YAY! Just returned from seeing the doctor and they're calling in a Zpack to the pharmacy for me right now. Got some real Rx on the way. **sweet** The Dr. also gave me some heavy duty Rx strength cough med samples (they'll make me sleepy... so I won't be able to take them at work... sorry peeps.) Anyway... I'll be phlegm free in less than FIVE DAYS. Wheeeehhhheeeeeeeee! SO... the moral of this story is... if you're getting and/or got the crud, don't wait a week like me. Go get something now. Kick it in the pants before it kicks YOU in the pants.

11.11.2005

John and I returned from Iowa on Thursday. The trip was, as John put it, bittersweet. While the reason for being there was a sad occassion, seeing most of John's family and then some was nice. They are wonderful and I feel blessed to be included in the Richardson clan.

When we saw Matt for the first time at the funeral home, we actually felt relieved. He looked so much more peaceful than when we last saw him on Sunday morning. Losing someone you love is never easy, but there is comfort in knowing he is no longer suffering.

Somehow, Gertie (John's mom) and I ended up sick by the time everything was said and done. We both woke up Wednesday morning with sore, scratchy throats. Swallowing was a challenge for me and everytime I get sick... it just amazes me how much junk a body can produce. (I mean really... where does it come from?!)

When I realized it was hard to talk, I was crushed... because I was supposed to be the song leader and soloist at Matt's funeral, but didn't think I'd be able to pull it off. Thankfully, with the help of the good Lord and Stephanie (piano), I was able to muscle through it. And, actually, the distraction of the sore throat may have helped me from thinking about how sad I was... so maybe it was not a such bad thing. Even with the sickness, I almost had trouble keeping it together... especially when I saw John as a paul bearer carrying the casket. He was strong, but understandably upset. From that point on, I just couldn't look at anyone in the sanctuary... I would have lost it.

Stephanie, John's cousin, played the piano for the service... she was incredible. We were both so happy to be able to lend our gifts to the service.

Anyway... I'm still sick. Stayed home from work today as Mandy is pregnant and don't want to take the chance of getting her sick, too. As of this moment, I have 171 e-mails in my inbox... so I'm going to try to go in to work on Sunday afternoon to see if I can make some headway and help myself hit the ground running on Monday. If I get a chance to download some of the photos we took in Iowa, I'll post them this weekend. There are some cool family pics as well as some shots of Matt's hat hanging from a post on his land. It's a long story that will make more sense when I post the photo.

Thanks, again, to everyone for their kind words, prayers and thoughts throughout Matt's sickness and his passing.

11.06.2005

John and I made the 10 hour trip to Iowa yesterday to be with his Grandpa and the family. We are very glad we were able to be here with everyone and to say "goodbye" to his Grandpa one last time.

He passed away early this morning. While we are all sad, we are also relieved that Matt is now at peace. I envision him sitting up in Heaven having a cup of coffee with his brothers, laughing and feeling no more pain. They're probably talking about farming, cattle and comparing stories about their lives... talking about what they have to get done before we all get there one day.

The funeral is most likely going to be Wednesday. John and I will return to Nashville on Thursday. Most likely, I won't be posting again until I return from the trip.

When DP showed me this photo of young Napolean and Pedro yesterday, I couldn't stop laughing. I was still laughing about it on the drive home. Whoever thought of dressing their kids up like these two is a genius.